High School Softball: Estancia wins a wild one
TEMPLETON — Maya Van Den Heever backhanded the low line drive at third base for the final out, then immediately let out a scream of joy.
These were not the same emotions Van Den Heever was feeling earlier Tuesday, as she and the Estancia High softball team left Costa Mesa just after 8:30 a.m. for the five-plus hour bus ride to Templeton for a CIF Southern Section Division 5 wild-card playoff game.
“Oh gosh, it was horrible,” Van Den Heever said of the 251-mile drive to near the northern boundary of the Southern Section. “All we did was eat and sleep.”
The game itself wasn’t exactly short, either, at just less than three hours. But it was certainly understandable why Van Den Heever was so emotional at the end.
Estancia’s season continues after it lost a big lead but rallied for a 13-11, eight-inning win over host Templeton at Vineyard Elementary.
Estancia, which has won a wild-card game for the second straight season, plays at No. 3-seeded Garden Grove in the first round on Thursday. Estancia can certainly use the day off, as the team expected to get back to Orange County around midnight Tuesday night after first eating a celebratory dinner at Applebee’s.
“I’m so proud of them,” Estancia Coach Carrie Lester said. “I’m not an emotional person, and they made me cry.”
Estancia (15-9) and Templeton (12-15) had a number of similarities. Both teams finished third in their respective leagues, the Orange Coast and Los Padres. Both have the Eagles as a mascot, and both have a freshman as their primary pitcher.
Unlike Templeton pitcher Shaylyn Coy, Estancia staked Brittany Walker to a big early lead after erupting for an eight-run second inning. Her battery mate, freshman catcher Kalena Shepherd, started the inning off with a hard shot off the foot of the Templeton first baseman and into right field. Before Estancia was done, 12 players would come to the plate.
Junior co-captain Felicia Rios had the big blow, depositing her first career grand slam well over the wall in left-center to give Estancia an 8-0 lead.
“I knew that one was going over,” Rios said with a smile after the game of her fifth home run on the season, and third in the last two games.
But Templeton kept chipping away at the lead. The hosts came all the way back by the bottom of the sixth, when they scored four runs. Jordin Arthurs scored on a throwing error to bring Templeton within one, then Kat Cline’s RBI groundout plated Kaitlin Doty to tie the score.
The comeback was hard to take for Walker, who admitted that she lost her confidence.
“This is the scariest game I’ve ever been in, honestly,” Walker said. “I gave up … [but] my catcher [Shepherd] talked to me. Her words of advice were, ‘1-2-3 [inning].’ She made me laugh and brought up my self-esteem, and got me back into it.”
Walker had to show resilience. After Estancia didn’t score in the top of the seventh, suddenly Templeton could win the game with a run in the bottom of the frame. She gave up two hits, but got out of the jam by inducing a two-out, soft line drive to Estancia second baseman Isabelle Morales.
Estancia would go to extra innings for the first time this season, and it made the most of its extra opportunity in the top of the eighth. Rios hit a slicing fly ball to right-center that fell in for a hit. After Van Den Heever hit into a fielder’s choice, Shepherd singled to shallow left. Then, Sam Wagner drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases with one out.
Walker hit a ball up the first-base line, and the throw home was wide as Rios scored the go-ahead run. Senior co-captain Karina Camarena then added an RBI groundout to give Estancia the 13-11 lead.
Walker quickly got the first two outs in the bottom of the eighth before giving up a double down the third-base line to Templeton freshman Katie Murphee, one of two doubles by Murphee in the game. Templeton’s Sydney Barlogio followed with another well-hit ball to third, but Van Den Heever was there to snag it and end the game.
“I was so relieved it was over,” Van Den Heever said.
Other contributors for the winners included Maya’s twin sister, Nefertiti Van Den Heever, who had a pinch-hit single in the fifth inning and scored a run. Senior Gianna Guyot, playing third base at the time, also made a standout diving stop in the bottom of the fifth to save at least one run.
Templeton out-hit Estancia, 18-10, but the visitors were better defensively and took advantage of six Templeton errors. Estancia scored twice in the fifth on a pair of them in one play, as the ball got past the left fielder on Nefertiti Van Den Heever’s hit to allow Camarena to score. Then the throw in to second base got away, and Van Den Heever also scored.
Garden Grove will be a tough test, but Estancia now seems to be riding momentum after beating cross-town rival Costa Mesa 20-5 in a tiebreaker game last Friday to clinch the CIF playoff berth.
“I’m so glad that we got that game in,” Lester said. “The girls have the energy. They want to keep playing together, this team.
“We were not ready for it to end.”
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CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs
Wild-card game
Estancia 13, Templeton 11 (8 innings)
SCORE BY INNINGS
Estancia 081 020 02– 13 10 3
Templeton 013 304 00 – 11 18 6
Walker and Shepherd; Coy and Doty. W – Walker. L – Coy. 2B – Murphee (T) 2. 3B – Cline (T), Ingle (T). HR – Rios (E).
